Re: Wire Men, long post

Another one I do is wire sculptures. They have one class period (85
minutes) to shape a 3' piece of wire. The pieces are pre-cut by me in
advance. They may add colored wire or heavier wire as needed, but they
must cut it themselves.
Maggie >>

I am following the "FOIL MEN" up with what seems a logical progression in
human figure study. "WIRE MEN!" We critiqued the foil people, and spent one
class on "TORNADO FIGURES". (more about those in a minute)

NOW they will create another human figure (improving upon their foil
structure, or starting anew) out of wire. I am going to drill small holes in
various sizes of wood blocks for the bases, and they will shape their figure
out of wire. (found needlenose pliers at the Dollar Store! Loaded up.)
Thanks for the 3 foot measurement...wasn't sure where to begin, as the pliers
do have cutters, but I do not want as much waste as the foil men. Will be
starting these in about a week.

I made these tornado figures up, and the kids love them. They warm up with
tornadoes all over tracing paper..Oh! I found boxes of old parchment in the
copy room, erasable stuff with some lines, but GREAT, and the school secretary
was happy to see them go!) So they learn to use not just their wrists, but
their whole forearms, and practice making their tornadoes twist, turn, thicken
and thin. Then I demonstrate a human figure with tornado-like spirals to
create some dimension. Reminded them that some ended up with "Flat Stanley's"
with foil, and that I did not want cookie cutter men made with wire! I want
to see some DEPTH and VOLUME to the torsos, legs, and arms. Now the purpose
of the tracing paper is to find interesting figures in magazines (lots of
Golf, Soccer, Fashion, etc.)and just do a tornado figure over the picture. Is
this clear? They really liked it, and I think I will have many shaping the
wire around dowels, pencils, etc., to get that volume. I am excited. Any
comments, ideas or suggestions?
Mary-Pat